Applicant Charles O. Finley is a widely regarded sports figure who has introduced pioneering advancements to professional sports. As the former owner of the Oakland Athletics baseball club for twenty years, applicant made substantial contributions to the game of baseball. His Oakland A's baseball team won five straight Division Championships (1971-75) and three straight World Championships (1972-74). Applicant also introduced the designated hitter rule and the playing of World Series and All-Star games at night. In addition, applicant introduced colorful uniforms and white shoes to the game of baseball to replace the egg shell white uniforms worn by home teams, the prison gray uniforms worn by visiting teams, and the black shoes previously worn by all players. Applicant's sports interests have also extend beyond the game of baseball. While simultaneously pursuing his baseball interests, applicant owned a professional hockey club, the California Golden Seals of the National Hockey League, and a professional basketball club, the Memphis Tams of the American Basketball Association, which merged in 1977 with the National Basketball Association.
In the late 1960s, as the owner of the Oakland Athletics baseball club, applicant introduced "The Alert Orange Baseball" to the game of baseball. The Alert Orange Baseball had two principal advantages over conventional white baseballs: (1) fans could follow the flight of an orange ball more easily than a white ball, especially when hit to the outfield, and (2) the batter could more easily see an orange ball being delivered at a speed of 90-100 miles per hour out of the normally white background of a pitcher's uniform. In exhibition games, fans reacted in an overwhelmingly positive manner to the Alert Orange Baseball. Umpires also attested to the benefits of the Alert Orange Baseball, stating that the ball was not only easier to see from behind the plate, but gave rise to a greater number of hits and fewer fielding errors in exhibition games in which the orange baseball was used. Applicant is still in the process of developing this ball.
More recently, applicant introduced a Visually Enhanced Football, which is described and claimed in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,452. The Visually Enhanced Football has a visually enhancing design applied to the exterior surface of the ball. The design generally circumscribes the longitudinal extent of the football so that upon rotation about the longitudinal axis a first distinctive visual image is produced and upon rotation about a transverse axis a second distinctive visual image is produced. The visually enhancing design does not protrude substantially from the surface of the ball and does not affect the normal flight and gripping of the ball.
In various sports, the gripping and tactile characteristics of the ball can make a considerable difference in the performance of the participating players. This is especially true in basketball where grip affects the players' ability to dribble, pass and shoot the ball accurately, sometimes over substantial distance, and also affects the players' ability to receive a pass while running or leaping. In addition, basketball games are oftentimes played out-of-doors and in unpredictable weather conditions including rain, snow and other conditions affecting the players' ability to grip the ball. It is therefore desirable to provide a basketball having enhanced gripping and tactile characteristics to improve the performance of the players while simultaneously avoiding the imposition of features or structures on the surface of the ball that would disrupt the flight of the ball. Similarly, it is desireable to enhance the gripping of a ball while retaining the traditional tactile characteristics or "feel" associated with conventional sports balls.
It would clearly be to a player's advantage to be able to more readily grip the basketball and to more accurately dribble, pass and shoot the ball over longer distances. Likewise, it would be to the advantage of players to more readily grip the ball when receiving a pass, and to maintain firm control of the ball while being pursued or physically jostled by opposing players. For these reasons and also to enhance the spectators' enjoyment of the game because of the improved performance of the players, it is desirable to provide a round sports ball with enhanced gripping and tactile characteristics without affecting the normal flight or aerodynamic behavior of the ball.
The exterior surface of conventional basketballs has a grain formed of pebble-like projections or blisters on the exterior surface. These pebble-like projections are convex, rounded and generally hemispherical in shape, with each projection separated from its neighboring projection by recessed bands or valleys. The valleys are much narrower in width than the average diameter of the projections, and form a substantially continuous, interconnected network over the surface of the ball. The junctures or intersections at which the valleys separating three or more projections converge are also much narrower than the average diameter of the projections.
In conventional sports balls having exterior surfaces made of leather, the pebble-like grain is embossed onto the leather by applying pressure using a suitable stamping device. In balls having synthetic, non-leather exterior surfaces, the pebble-like grain is applied during injection or compression molding of the surface piece, or, alternatively, embossed using heat and/or pressure.
Regardless of the technique used to apply the grain to conventional sports balls, the resulting pebble-like projections provide enhanced gripping characteristics as compared to balls having smooth exterior surfaces. In particular, a player's fingers and palm will conform to the grain of the ball such that the skin will compress against the pebble-like projections but remain uncompressed or less compressed with respect to the valleys surrounding the projections. Enhanced gripping of the basketball results from the frictional interaction between the projections and skin of the player's hand.
Several years ago, a football was proposed which had a reverse grain pattern consisting of substantially circular recesses formed on the exterior surface of the ball. The recesses of the prior design were formed with orthogonal walls extending inwardly from the exterior surface of the ball and ending at a substantially flat bottom portion. In the prior design, each recess was separated from its neighboring recesses by a raised portion that formed a substantially continuous network over the surface of the ball. However, the raised portions of the prior design were much wider than the valleys surrounding the pebble-like projections of conventional footballs, especially at the juncture of three or more recesses. Moreover, these raised portions were occasionally wider than the average diameter of the recesses.
The orthogonal walls defining the recesses in the prior design formed a sharp circular lip at their intersection with the exterior surface of the ball. Thus, friction was created when a player's fingers and palm compressed the raised portions of the ball but remained relatively uncompressed by the recesses. However, the sharp circular lips prevented a player's hand from conforming comfortably to the recesses of the prior design when throwing or receiving the ball. The circular periphery of the recesses and substantial width of the raised portions in the prior design also allowed for a fewer number of recesses across the surface of the ball. Moreover, the sharpness of the circular lips defining the recesses create discomfort when gripped for throwing or when the ball was received when thrown. The prior reverse grain football was therefore less tactically appealing than conventional footballs.